This site is currently dedicated to covering the fortunes of the South Western High School MUSTANGS football team in York County, Pennsylvania. SOUTH WESTERN MUSTANGS GRIDIRON columns will be posted for a preseason review and following each game during the season. And we will follow my Alma Mater, the CUTTERS of Fair Lawn High School in Bergen County, New Jersey, with THE GRIDIRON columns by my twin brother Dick, the stadium announcer "Voice of the CUTTERS."

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Saturday, November 30, 2013

PLAYOFF FINALS IN FLHS GRIDIRON HISTORY - 2013

A WALK DOWN MEMORY LANE

By Dick Engelhardt

The New Jersey State
Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA)
instituted playoffs in 1974. Before that, sectional and group championships
were awarded using power points. Now they are decided on the GRIDIRON. Power points only come into
play in making the playoffs and in seeding in them and in seeding Consolation
Games.

In 1980 Pete
Natale’s CUTTERS shared the Northern
New Jersey Interscholastic League (NNJIL)
title with the FIGHTING MUSTANGS of
Clifton High and the HORNETS of
Passaic Valley. They beat the HORNETS
7-6 during the season but were beaten 20-7 by the FIGHTING MUSTANGS who in turn were beaten by the HORNETS. The tri-champions all had 8-1
(.889) NNJIL records. In the opening
round of the States in North Jersey, Section 1, Group IV action, the CUTTERS
played one of the most exciting games in their history. Trailing the INDIANS of Passaic and the Passaic
Valley Conference (PVC) 7-0, 12-0,
12-7 and 18-7 at GIANTS STADIUM they
roared back to win a 27-18 thriller. In the finals at GIANTS STADIUM, the HORNETS
of Passaic Valley avenged the regular season loss with a 20-0 championship shut
out victory. Those 1980 CUTTERS were
the first team in FLHS history to
win 9 games, going 9-2 (.818). The
others were Natale’s 1985 and 87 Northern Bergen Interscholastic League (NBIL) Division 1 champion and playoff
bound CUTTERS who went 9-1 (.900).